THE BILL actor Peter Ellis on about playing Chief Supt Brownlow for 16 years.

Peter Ellis played The Bill’s no-nonsense Chief Superintendent Charles Brownlow from the very first episode in 1984 until he left the show in 2000. In addition to an acting career spanning 60 years, he is also a theatre director.

Bristol-born Peter, 78, lives in London with his third wife, actress-director Anita Parry, and their son and daughter. He also has two sons from his first marriage and another from his second marriage.

Usually, I’d audition for one part and come out with another

Peter Ellis

“I left school at 14 to do various jobs before continuing my education at Ruskin College, Oxford, where I started acting.

“In 1954, I joined Peter Hall’s Elizabethan Theatre Company to make my stage debut as Stephano in The Merchant Of Venice.

“After national service and drama school, I spent four years at The Old Vic, which included playing Benvolio in Franco Zeffirelli’s production of Romeo And Juliet, followed by the RSC and theatre work in Sheffield, Nottingham and Birmingham.

“On TV, I did The Way With Reggie with Michael Caine – just before he got Zulu.

“I played many villains in police dramas, but my first time as a police officer was No Hiding Place and then Coronation Street.

“The producers of The Bill often looked for actors who had played villains when they were casting for police officers.

SAT MAG

'I stayed for 16 years because it was enjoyable'

“Usually, I’d audition for one part and come out with another – that’s what happened in 1984. I’d been rejected for a sergeant’s role in The Bill and as I was leaving, the producer said, ‘Wait a minute.’ Fortunately, I was walking slowly to the door because otherwise I might not have got Brownlow.

“Brownlow was a dour character, which is sad because I desperately wanted to inject some humour into him. The reality is that it can be lonely for senior officers sitting at the top with nobody to unwind with. That’s how it was for Brownlow.

“I’d loved to have got out more, but his time was spent behind his desk or trying to make conversation with officers in the canteen.

“I stayed for 16 years because it was enjoyable; rather like having an extended family. The producers were always generous to give me time off to do theatre such as Educating Rita, which is where I met Anita in 1991.

“The Bill didn’t change my life too much because I was already an older actor and wasn’t in the papers stumbling out of nightclubs.

“In 2000, the producers decided to have a shake-up and Brownlow, together with several other familiar faces, was written out.

“My son, Hugh, is a screenwriter who has written many episodes for The Bill and it was lovely that he wrote my final episode.

I returned to The Bill a year later for two guest episodes.

“I wanted to return to the theatre and among the later plays I’ve performed in are The Seagull, Hindle Wakes and Pride And Prejudice as Mr Bennet opposite

Susan Hampshire in a tour last year.

“I recently finished directing Anita in a tour of her new one-woman show,

What Would Helen Mirren Do? and now we’re planning to turn it into a film.